AmsterdamPrime Minister
Tony Abbott
says Flight MH17 victim recovery teams are now involved in a race against time with Australia sending 50 police to London as a step towards establishing a multi-national force to secure the crash site.

As EU diplomats considered punitive measures against Russia, including banning all Europeans from buying new debt or stock from Russian banks and barring Russian banks from using EU stock markets to raise funds from non-Europeans, Mr Abbott was pushing the idea of the international force.

Speaking on Thursday following another meeting of Cabinet’s National Security Committee, Mr Abbott said the Dutch had told him they were also prepared to send troops. And he had discussed a multi-national policing force with both the Ukraine Prime Minister
Petro Poroshenko
and Russian President
Vladimir Putin
.

But he conceded the biggest obstacle to conducting a full unimpeded search of the crash site was Russian rebel control of the site.

“There still has not been anything like a thorough professional search of the area where the plane came down,’’ Mr Abbott said.

“And there can’t be while the site is controlled by armed men with a vested interest in the outcome of any investigation.

“The Australian government has predeployed 50 Australian police to London and stands ready to deploy Australian police to Ukraine to help secure the site as part of an international team under United Nations authority,’’ Mr Abbott said.

Foreign Minister
Julie Bishop
is travelling to Kiev with her Dutch counterpart
Frans Timmermans
for talks with Ukrainian and international officials. Dutch Prime Minister
Mark Rutte
has also phoned Mr Poroshenko in support of the international force.

The Russian foreign ministry said the leaders discussed the need for “an early cessation of hostilities’’ in eastern Ukraine in order to allow international experts access to the crash site. The two agreed to closer cooperation on any further bilateral or multilateral steps.

Mr Abbott was Mr Putin’s fiercest critic after the airliner was suspected of being shot down by Russian backed rebels killing all 298 people on board including 37 Australian citizens and residents.

He branded the Russian backed rebels in the Ukraine were Russian proxies calling on Mr Putin to rein in their behaviour after it became clear wreckage on the crash site was being tampered with and personal belongings looted.

Russia after some initial reluctance also backed a strongly worded Australian sponsored UN Security Council resolution backing an international investigation.

The phone call occurred on Wednesday according to the Russian foreign ministry.

Earlier on Thursday the first bodies were recovered from the crash site flown to the Netherlands by Dutch and Australian air force transport aircraft.

Ms Bishop, who was in Eindhoven when the first planes arrived, said the simple and sombre ceremony had restored the victims with a dignity that was lost in the days after the disaster.

With the Netherlands holding its first national day of mourning in more than 50 years, a Dutch C130 Hercules carrying 16 victims and an Australian RAAF C17 transporter carrying 24 bodies from Kharkiv airport in the Ukraine landed in brilliant sunshine at Eindhoven air base.

A further 70 bodies could be transferred on Thursday European time.

In a short ceremony, the last post was played, followed by a minute’s silence, before each of the victims was carried out of the respective aircraft in a wooden coffin and placed in 40 individual hearses.

They were officially received by members of the Dutch royal family – including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima – Mr Rutte as well as an Australian representation led by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and Ms Bishop.

“Today marks the beginning of the journey home for those Australians aboard Malaysian Airlines MH17 who were killed some six days ago," Ms Bishop told reporters after the ceremony. “The ceremony we saw today was dignified and provided the level of respect that those that were killed in this crash have deserved from the outset. “To have an Australian plane – a C17 – with an Australian crew on board as part of this just proves how united we with the Netherlands and the other countries in our grief, our anguish but our determination that we can account for everyone of the victims on the flight."

Flags of 17 countries at half mast

The Netherlands declared Wednesday a national day of mourning, with flags flying at half mast and church bells played out for five minutes before the planes landed.

Countries affected by the disaster – which killed 298 people when it was shot down last week – were represented by 17 flags flying at half mast at the air base.

Mr Abbott has also pulled out of a Pacific Island leaders summit in order to deal with the MH17 disaster.

Mr Abbott was due to attend the Pacific Island Forum summit, which includes 16 Pacific countries and was due to take place in Palau from July 29 to August 1.